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Right now, I believe that, at least in Japanese game development, gaming is going back to a golden age in design. The PS1 era is considered by many, and myself, to be one of the greatest time periods for games. Throughout the 2000s, we have aimed to perfect these game design theories created during this time. However, all we have done is gotten further and further away from the core ideas and concepts invented during the 90s. It seems like we’ve just been creating the same games over and over, literally, and metaphorically. Every year new AAA games come out with better graphics, bigger open worlds, and more sidequests, but is this really what games should be? Are these principles really what makes a game “fun?” Many game companies spend way too much time looking forward, rather than looking back at what we’ve already created. However, I can point out two game developers in particular who have decided to look back on what they’ve made in the past, and perfect it. Mistwalker and Atlus have both recently released two excellent JRPGs, Fantasian: Neo Dimension, and Metaphor: ReFantazio. These JRPGs aim to act as a kind of “summary” of these developers’ previous games. These are also both in my personal top three games of 2024. These games both borrow mechanics from several different games throughout the early 2000s, and blend them into a cocktail of perfection. Here’s how:

Fantasian: Neo Dimension is my game of the year for 2024. I haven’t even finished the game yet, (PS5 says I’m about 75% through) and I already know this game is incredible. First off, the game chooses to limit your party to three members. This is a very bold choice, as many RPGs of today allow up to four party members. The developers did this because this game is all about what I’m going to call “simple complexity.” This means that in limiting the amount of complex mechanics in the game, they actually ended up making a somewhat simple game with extreme depth. This is apparent throughout the rest of the design, as well. There’s only one level of attack and defense buffs in the game, very few different status effects, and only seven different types of attacks. Each character in the game is clearly meant to fit into a different archetype, and they’re all extremely powerful and useful at the same time. This game was originally an Apple Arcade game, and it was split into two parts. The first half of the game is pretty linear. You slowly collect party members like usual, however, this game does it a bit differently. Once you gain a full party, the game almost immediately starts you back over with just one character. This is because it, again, almost immediately replaces those previous two members with two new members. It does this a couple times before finally starting you over one final time. Now, the second half of the game begins. The game suddenly becomes open world, and lets you warp freely to any location you’ve been to before, as now, you must recover all of your lost party members. This is an excellent way to reintroduce the party members while also adding new mechanics, as the second half of the game also incorporates the skill trees. Fantasian also has an extremely unique battle system. Attacks are sent to the enemies in a line. Sometimes it’s a straight line, sometimes it’s a bending line. Attacks also can pierce or not pierce. Attacks that pierce go through enemies and can hit more than one enemy. This is a very simple mechanic that’s easy to understand, but it actually adds a lot of depth to the game, as different characters have different types of attacks that cover different areas of the screen. This means that you have to strategize about the enemy positions, which ones you’re attacking when, as well as having to prioritize exploiting the enemies’ weaknesses on top of all of this. Honestly, I’m not very surprised at this game’s quality, as it was made by the same team who made another excellent game: Lost Odyssey.

Metaphor: ReFantazio also takes inspiration from Lost Odyssey. Metaphor was developed by Atlus, the same team who made the Shin Megami Tensei games as well as the Persona games. It was created as a celebration of Atlus’ 35th anniversary, and it shows. Metaphor is a perfect kind of “summary” of the entire library of Atlus games. The game uses a mechanic called “archetypes,” which is extremely similar to the way job classes worked in another Atlus game, Digital Devil Saga. Metaphor lets you use four party members like most RPGs, however, for a big portion of the beginning of the game you only have three (another possible Digital Devil Saga reference). One of Lost Odyssey’s most notable mechanics was the “row” system. Characters can move between the front and back rows during battle. Party members in the back row take less damage, but also deal less physical damage. Members in the front row deal more physical damage, but also take more physical damage. Metaphor also has a relationship/social link system, which was first introduced in the Persona games. However, unlike the persona games, this game does not have an all out attack once all the weaknesses of enemies have been exploited. It instead borrows the half turns from SMT. When exploiting an enemy’s weakness, you only consume half a turn. Metaphor ends up being a fantastic mix of various JRPG mechanics established throughout the 90s and 2000s.

(Not sure I’m too satisfied with this post but I’ll put it on here for now. Expect an updated version in the future.)